Slaying Dragons
Apprehension and joy, excitement manifest.
Beach boy safari, a wave seeking quest.
Checking the lines at Malibu,
County Line and Rincon, too.
Searching, seeking, just the right one
To embrace and blend, you and your “gun.”
The heartbeat accelerates as you “dig in,”
Roll under and turn up your fin.
You stroke like hell for the one “outside,”
The beach audience waits for the ride.
It’s bigger than you thought, a little scary,
You got to go now, can’t tarry.
Is this one going to defeat
You ever even gaining your feet?
Steeper than you could know
High above the undertow.
Tops of rocks emerging below,
Everything painted in motion slow.
Is this the time you just won’t “make it?”
You promised this board you wouldn’t break it.
You’re on your feet and standing tall,
You’ve made the turn and climbed the wall.
God knows how, you’re hugging a rail
As out of the mouth of the curl you sail.
A turn into the water white
As upon the nose you light.
An exhilaration you’ve never known,
Danger’s gone, mother ocean’s home.
Somewhere deep inside you feel,
A knowingness that is concretely real.
You’ve slayed the demons here on the pond
With the help of Neptune’s magic wand.
You’ve gained a certainty, you know when
The time is right, you’ll do it again.
Local Bill Sorrells recently returned to his boyhood hometown.
